The Guardian of Angel Falls
by RedHeadedCelestrian
Summary: An original telling of Dragonquest IX - Prologue now up!
1. Prologue

**Way too short for a decent beginning, I know, but I comfort myself with the thought that this is only the prologue... and I NEED SLEEP. I swear on my honour as a Red-headed Celestrian that upcoming updates will be much longer... shear my locks and dye them blonde if I lie.**

**Prologue**

"_Hello? Is there anybody there? If you're there, say something. Show yourself."  
_Thus do the voices of the mortals plead, ever hopeful of proof of our existence. For how long have we watched over their realm...? For how long have we Celestrians existed...?

The Observatory is home to the mighty Yggdrasil, the Great World Tree, and to the Celestrians, a race of beings charged with watching over the mortal realm beneath. According to legend, when the sacred fyggs finally bloom on Yggdrasils tree, a celestial carriage will arrive to transport the Celestrians to the Realm of the Almighty. In order to bring about the blooming of the fyggs, the Guardians have long gathered benevolessence, the crystallised gratitude of their mortal charges and offered it up to the Great World Tree.

Whilst the Celestrians and their duty to protect mortal kind have remained steady over the passage of time, inhabitants of the mortal world can never be truly sure of their existence, with the most cynical scorning the Celestrians as mere myths of the ancient times. Nonetheless, Guardian statues still stand as a source of great pride where mortals bring their thanks to the guardians of their homeplace.

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"It really is weird..." the taller of the two blonds mused, a strange mixture of thoughtfulness and frustration on his face. The shorter boy didn't seem to share his companions 'fascination' with the aged statue in front of them - instead, he seemed more concerned as to _why_ he had been persuaded to ditch his quiet shift at the town border just to watch this.

"What's weird?", he frowned to get a closer at the subject of his crouched friends glare, "You mean this name thingy on the Guardian statue, Ivor?"

"Of course I mean that name thingy, Hugo, you dolt! I'm sure it said 'Aqui-' something before. But now it's 'Rion'..."

"Really? Well it's said Rion for as long as I can remember."

"And how long is that exactly? Do you remember reading it before?" Hugo scratched absentmindedly at the side of his head.

"Er...I... That's funny... I, I can't say that I do."

"You see!" Ivor straightened up, his face still bearing the same signs of frustration, but now with a hint of victory, as if he had just proved his point beyond dispute only for no-one else to agree. "It's only _just _changed, and everyone thinks its been like that forever. I've even asked _Erinn_ and she says the same thing as you. How can she have not have noticed the difference when she visits it _every day_?"

"Ah-ha! It must be the work of the village Guardian, then!"

Ivor scoffed at the other youths belief.

"So an ancient myth has managed to not only change the memories of an entire villaige, but also change it's gender to a _girl_? Bit of a waste of all those powers don't you think?" He shook his head with certainty. "Don't be such a wally! Someone must have done something to the staue when no-one else was around - that's the only explanation. There's no such thing as Guardians. They're just made-up rubbish. It's only Erinn who believes in all that nonsense. She's such a dumb, er...brunette."

At this, Hugo rolled his eyes, turning around to climb down the grassy steps. _Here we go again... Erinn this, Erinn that... Ivor's so transparent. Everyone can see he's head over heels in love with the girl. If he could only spend a day without one of his 'Guardian rants' she might be able to stand being in the same room with him long enough for her to notice. _

"Erinn's always going on about how everything is thanks to the Guardian. Stupid if you ask me..."

_Well. _He chuckled to himself as they crossed the bridge onto the centre of the town, the island at the bottom of the waterfall. _Probably not going to happen anytime soon._

"If we _really_ couldn't manage without... mythical angels, holding our hands the entire time, then someone would have proof of them doing something by now. I mean, if this Guardian really exists, then why doesn't she introduce herself to me, eh?"

**AN- Don't worry, the story WILL consist of more than my shameless copying of game lines. The next chapter should be where my original story really kicks in (although it will follow the bare basics of the game). I have to admit, I've always been frustrated that the story never expanded on Ivor's strange ability to remember the old Guardian - something for the story to work on, I think. Maybe he was just THAT stubborn...**

**Yes, it's that time again. OCs Wanted! I'm planning on putting the teams other members into the spotlight once they're introduced.**

**Name:  
Age:  
Gender:  
Looks:  
Profession:  
Background  
Anything else:**

**Reviews are much appreciated, even and especially ones that just let me know people do visit this section :)**


	2. Chapter 1

**Reviews... are good. I never realiszed how helpful they were until now. Reviews fuel night-time typing sessions even when you know that you'll be scribbling 'SOMEONE-TAKE-AWAY-MY-LAPTOP-AT-NIGHT' on the maths paper you're trying not to fall asleep on top of the next morning. But seriously guys, thanks. I never expected to get reviews and OCs already, just for a tiny prologue in a small section.**

**So... this chapter takes place before the prologue, and the story'll build back up to that point to explain what happened before that and next in Angel Falls and what Rion (the main charachter, seeing as I haven't really said that yet) had to do with it. Just so it doesn't look like I cut off the last chapter there for no reason (besides...y'know. A need for sleep. And a severe diagnosis of procrastination).**

**And just a warning... quick change of point of view from third person to first person. If the story's in first person then it will always be one of Rions journal entries.**

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Dear Journal,

Sometime I can't help but think how much easier it would be to get to sleep if I didn't have wings. Sure, they've been a part of me since I was born...created... whatever 'great' event happened that ended with us Celestrians existing somewhere between the mortal realm and the Almighty. Or, as someone _somewhere_ once named it, the Observatory. I know that being without them would feel the same as having my arms or my legs taken away (although I'm pretty sure I could survive not being able to hover over someones head better than not being able to walk) - but, still.

Trying to relax when all you can feel is a mass of feathers crumpled underneath your back? Not really what you want to do after a day, and the vast majority of the night, of watching over an entire town, where most of its inhabitants thanked you for everything they had. It's not like you're in any position to slack off when so many people believe in you _that much_. You owe it to them to do as much as you can to at least keep them safe, even if you simply can't get the time to help them with everything you'd want to and could. And I don't think any Guardian can - get the time, I mean. But there are so many things the people in the lower realms manage to do for themselves that they still thank us for - they raise families, build up businesses, protect their homes themselves when the time comes and create beautiful wonders of nature that we Celestrians could never dream of being able to forge, up here in our never-changing Observatory. Honestly, I can't help but feel guilty when the people of Angel Falls thank me for these everyday miracles. I was there with them when they did these things, but _they_ were always the ones who were responsible for it happening - I don't deserve any of their praise.

And what do I do when I'm being kept awake by my (suprisingly deep for me) thoughts and the nagging ache in my back? I decide to forgo any remaining hopes of sleep and _finally _start writing in this thing. I got the idea for it a while back, and the actual book even longer ago - I _think_ it was a gift from Apus Major when he first asked Aquilla to train me. It definetley looks old enough to be from that far back, anyway. The whole diary concept is pretty old down in the mortal realm, but up here... well, let's just say we Celestrians aren't usually prone to writing anything that intimate about our thoughts. Sure, the scribes have been keeping records of our history since

'Keeping records of our history since records began...'? Can I really write that? It goes without saying that they've been keeping records since they started keeping records. Guess I don't exactly have the same way with words as most Guardians (or as I heard one of the villaige boys put it, _'the gift of the gab'_). Sorry journal, but you'll just have to settle for me insisting that it's been a _really_ long time. And if you'd seen the way those scribes look at you when you interupt them, you'd understand just how long they've been slaving away with those quills.

...

Journal, if you still remember what I was writing about before I started my revenge in ink on every scribe who has ever pushed me out of a room with the force of silent glares alone, you have a better memory than me.

...

Diaries are new for Celestrains. That's it. Now stop writing pages of nonsense and stay with one thought for more than five minutes if you want to finish this before daybreak Rion. Like I was saying - diaries are a lot more personal than our records. Mortals who write to their journals most days treat it like a confidant where they don't have to worry what they tell it, or what way they do it. It's a lot different than having to make sure you word every sentence - in the immortal words of the most hated tutor of my youth - 'Befitting of a being of your superiority'. A 'polite' way of her to say that she didn't think I'd ever be able to act like a true Celestrian and insult the entire mortal realm in one swoop.

Way to go, teach.

Huh. It's only when I stop to read all this that I start to realisze that my hand is really starting to throb. I hadn't noticed when I was writing - I supposed getting all this of my chest really did distract me from everything. Bizzarely, I feel a lot more awake than I would have if I'd just continued tossing and turning once again. Any night spent feeling like my wings aren't being crushed is good enough for me. I'll have to thank Erinn tommorrow...not that she'll be able to actually see me, but it's the thought that counts, right? She's the girl responsible for Angel Falls only Inn, and with the amount of work she puts in at the age she is now I just KNOW she'll do great things when she's older. I'm suprised she can actually find the time to write in her own journal, but it's simply massive and it's obvious she's been keeping it for years by now.

Huh. I say tommorrow, but by the looks of things through my window tommorrow arrived a few hours ago. Probably best if I find a place to hide this where I can be sure even the strictest of Celestrians won't sniff it out.

...On second thoughts, maybe I'll just take this with me today.

Hoping Aquilla won't ask about the chunk of leather hanging out of my satcher, your Guardian Rion.

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**Phew. And there was me worrying when I last posted I'd never get the motivation to continue this story. I've already got the next few chapters planned out, so I'm pleased with my progress. It sure is going a heck of a lot better then that whole year-overdue-800-word essay problem I've still got going.**

**And remember - reviews make new authoresses happy :D**


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